1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to data processing systems and, in particular, to a data processing system and method including a server and client computer systems coupled together utilizing a network. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a data processing system and method including a server and client computer systems coupled together utilizing a network for permitting the server to perform diagnostics remotely on a malfunctioning client computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal computer systems are well known in the art. They have attained widespread use for providing computer power to many segments of today""s modern society. Personal computers (PCs) may be defined as a desktop, floor standing, or portable microcomputer that includes a system unit having a central processing unit (CPU) and associated volatile and non-volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM) and basic input/output system read only memory (BIOS ROM), a system monitor, a keyboard, one or more flexible diskette drives, a CD-ROM drive, a fixed disk storage drive (also known as a xe2x80x9chard drivexe2x80x9d), a pointing device such as a mouse, and an optional network interface adapter. One of the distinguishing characteristics of these systems is the use of a motherboard or system planar to electrically connect these components together. Examples of such personal computer systems are IBM""s PC 300 series, Aptiva series, and Intellistation series.
With PCs being increasingly connected into networks to allow transfers of data among computers to occur, more operations such as maintenance, updating of applications, and data collections are occurring over the network. Computer networks are also becoming essential to their users. It is desirable to minimize loss of productivity by increasing availability of network resources. In today""s networked world, the availability and performance of the network is as important as the availability and performance of the personal computer.
Diagnostics programs are essential to system administrators in determining the source of hardware problems. In known systems, diagnostics programs are software application programs that run on the client computer system. A server may transfer a diagnostics program over the network to a client to be executed on the client. However, in order to permit the server to transfer the program code to the client via the network, the client must be fully functional. Once the program has been transferred to the client, the server may cause the diagnostics program to begin executing on the client utilizing a DMI command. However, again, the client must be fully functional in order to receive this command.
Valuable data may be obtained by the diagnostics program regarding a malfunctioning client. For example, the client computer system may be hung or malfunctioning to a point where the diagnostic program cannot run. In either of these cases, in order to execute the diagnostic program, the client must be restarted. By restarting the client, however, the condition which caused the malfunction may also be removed, thus losing the valuable data.
Therefore a need exists for a data processing system and method for permitting a server computer system to perform remote diagnostics on a malfunctioning client computer system.
A data processing system and method are described for permitting a server computer system to perform remote diagnostics on a malfunctioning client computer system coupled to the server computer system utilizing a network. The server computer system transmits a diagnostic command to the malfunctioning client computer system utilizing the network. A network adapter operating as a bus controller for an internal bus within the malfunctioning client computer system executes the diagnostic command. The network adapter transmits a result of the execution of the diagnostic command to the server computer system. In this manner, the diagnostic command is executed within a malfunctioning client computer system by a remote, server computer system.
The above as well as additional objectives, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed written description.